#150 A Congress Person's Horrors

 http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/03/150-congressmans-horrors.html

#150 Blog Post – Wednesday, 22 March 2022

 

Posted by Denny Hatch

 

The Simple $7.50/month Solution

To the Horrors Congress Faces

 

U.S. Representative  Dwight Evans,

Pennsylvania’s 3^rd Congressional District

 

Last week I was invited to Peggy’s Cosmopolitan Club to hear a talk by our Congressman, Dwight Evans. He is very big, huggy-bear of a guy with charm, grace and a phenomenal memory. First elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1980, Evans has been involved in politics for more than 40 years. He knows Pennsylvania — and the inner workings of Philadelphia and Congress — cold. We’re damn lucky to have him working for us.

 

My Problem with Rep. Dwight Evans

He robo-calls once or twice a month or more to beg for campaign money. We send him money occasionally. But his calls take up time and take me away from my work. When I’m in the middle of something, I don’t want to be interrupted by Dwight Evans.

 

How Dwight Evans’s Constituency Is Twice-screwed

Members of the U.S. Congress are paid $174,000 a year plus expenses. The average cost to run a winning campaign for Congress is $2 million for every two-year term. A number of congressmen are extremely wealthy (e.g., Darrell Issa, representing the 50^th district of California has a reported net worth of $460 million.)

 

But the average member of Congress must spend 4 hours a day—every workday—in an offsite telemarketing boiler room with a script, pleading with donors for campaign contributions so he/she can get reelected and keep working in your behalf.

 

 The 116^th Congress (2019-2021) was in session 196 days a year. Four hours of dialing for dollars means they each member of congress spent 784 hours working to raise money. That’s 784 hours working for himself and not working for me.

What is more daunting: the average member of the House of Representatives must raise $18,000 a day or be out of a job.

 

 

With a term of just two years (mandated by the U.S. Constitution), on the very day Dwight is re-elected, he must start his 4-hour-a-day fundraising schedule all over again in order to buy his seat for the next cycle. The system stinks. It’s debilitating. And we, the people, are screwed by being forced to rely on part-time congressmen.

 

Should Congressional Campaigns

Be Financed by the Government?

Hell, no! This would grant walking-around money to every out-of-work idiot who declared for candidacy. And what about myriad state and local candidates? Government funding is a lousy idea!

 

The Raw Numbers for a Congress Person and How

Just $5 to $10 a Month Would Make a Difference

• Number of bodies (men, women and children) in the average congressional district: 700,000.

 

• The Average Number of households per congressional district (@2.5 people): 280,000.  (This is the potential raw donor base).

 

• The cost of a winning congressional campaign every two years is roughly $2 million.

 

           —OpenSecrets.org

 

• If ten percent (10%) of those 280,000 households contributed $5 or $10 a month, here’s what would happen. $5 to $10 per month from 10 percent of the electorate would mean a $7.50 average.

 

•   Donor Base:                         28,000

     Avg. Monthly Gift:        x       $7.50

     Monthly Total:                 $210,000

     12 Months/per year:     x           12

                  Grand Total:                    $2,520,000

 

How to Guarantee the Monthly

$7.50 Pledge Will Be Collected

 

 

Takeaways to Consider

 

• U.S. politicians lead lives of perpetual desperation. (Exception: The U.S. Senate)

 

• Would you invest in a  company—or fly in a jet plane—if you knew the employees were forced to spend 4 hours a day raising money so they can keep their jobs?

 

• Cash-starved Congress members are ipso-facto the most inefficient workers of any organization in the country. We the taxpayers are screwed.

 

• The obvious solution would be small $5 to $10 credit card donations every month to congressional, state and local political election committees just the same as animal rescuers and children’s hospitals.

 

• Desperately needed: a patriotic, non-partisan national organization of savvy professional fundraisers to put together—and execute—a plan that will free up members of congress and local representatives to do their jobs on behalf of their constituencies.

 

• Members of the United States Senate need not apply. Below is a sampling from Open Secrets:

                                

 

 

• “The definition of an honest politician is one who, when bought, stays bought.” 

—Simon Cameron (1799-1889)

Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War                                                             

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